The present invention is drawn to a panel fastener having an alignment mechanism coupled thereto for maintaining the panel fastener in a predetermined orientation in order to facilitate the assembly of a primary panel to a secondary panel by means of the panel fastener.
In many manufacturing processes, and in particular in the fabrication of automobiles, it is often necessary to secure a primary panel such as an exterior panel of the automobile to a secondary panel such as the framework of the automobile. Panel fasteners useful for securing a primary panel to a secondary panel may take many shapes and function in different ways. Of particular importance to the present invention are those types of panel fasteners that are preassembled with the primary panel by means of a structure commonly referred to as a dog house that extends from an undersurface of the primary panel. The heads of such prior art panel fasteners are preassembled with the primary panel by securing the head of the prior art panel fastener to the dog house, typically by means of a snap fit type of connection. Once a desired number of prior art panel fasteners have been secured to the primary panel, the primary panel may be secured to the secondary panel by inserting the shank end of the panel fastener into a bore formed through the secondary panel. The benefit to the use of the dog house to secure the panel fastener to the primary panel is that a blind connection may be made between the primary and secondary panels, i.e., there is no externally visible fastener present in the primary panel once the connection between the primary and secondary panels has been made.
A problem common to the type of prior art panel fasteners described above is that the connection between the head of the prior art panel fastener and the dog house is typically loose enough to permit a certain amount of undesirable play between the dog house and the prior art panel fastener. As a result, the shank of the panel fastener may be difficult to align with the bore formed through the secondary panel. When the shank of the prior art panel fastener becomes misaligned with the bore formed in the secondary panel due to the play in the connection between the dog house and the fastener, it is necessary to adjust the primary panel in order to align the fastener with the bore in the secondary panel. As can be appreciated, because the connection between the primary and secondary panels is blind and because the primary panel becomes successively more immobile as each of the prior art panel fasteners is secured to the secondary panel, it can be difficult to properly seat the shank of a typical prior art panel fastener in its cooperating bore in the secondary panel. At best, these adjustments can be time consuming, and at worst, the primary panel must be disassembled from the secondary panel in order to replace broken or damaged prior art panel fasteners. Accordingly, there is a recognized need for a panel fastener having an alignment mechanism that maintains the panel fastener in a predetermined orientation with regard to the primary panel when the panel fastener is preassembled with the primary panel so as to avoid the problems of misalignment during assembly of the primary panel to the secondary panel.
A panel fastener according to the present invention essentially comprises a head, a shank with a retaining mechanism, and an alignment mechanism. The head of the panel fastener has an upper plate and a lower plate that are connected by a post that maintains the plates in a generally parallel relationship. The plates are spaced away from one another by a distance defined by the length of the post. The post is itself constructed and arranged to be received and retained in a slot formed in a bottom surface of a doghouse that extends from an undersurface of the primary panel.
The shank of the panel fastener is secured to a lower plate of the head and extends away therefrom generally perpendicularly. The shank also has a retaining structure that secures the shank of the panel fastener in a bore formed in the secondary panel when the shank is inserted into the bore.
The alignment mechanism of the panel fastener of the present invention comprises a detent that is secured to an undersurface of the upper plate of the head. The detent extends from the upper plate in the direction of the lower plate and is constructed and arranged to engage the bottom surface of the doghouse when the post of the head is received in the slot formed in the doghouse. When engaged, the detent maintains the panel fastener in a predetermined alignment with respect to the doghouse. The detent of the panel fastener is self-centering with respect to a cooperating bore or depression formed in the bottom surface of the dog house. The detent itself is preferably symmetrical, having a number of faces that taper from a narrow tip to a broad base, but the detent may take many shapes, including pyramidal, conical, frustoconical, and hemispherical. The bore or depression formed in the bottom surface of the dog house cooperates with the detent to position the panel fastener and is preferably circular or rectangular in shape.